The justice coming from the cross

John 18:1-19, 42

8 When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. 3 So Judas came to the garden, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and the Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. 4 Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who is it you want?” 5 “Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “I am he,” Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) 6 When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 Again he asked them, “Who is it you want?” “Jesus of Nazareth,” they said. 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, then let these men go.” 9 This happened so that the words he had spoken would be fulfilled: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.” 10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) 11 Jesus commanded Peter, “Put your sword away! Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?” 12 Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him 13 and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.15 Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there and brought Peter in. 17 “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” she asked Peter. He replied, “I am not.” 18 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself. ​19 Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

Good Friday, one of the most important and depressing days of the Christian calendar, honors the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. One of the numerous rituals that Christians around the world perform on this day to remember Christ's death is The Way of the cross which contains Stations of the Cross, I mean a series of 14 pictures or carvings portraying events in the Passion of Christ, from his condemnation by Pontius Pilate to his entombment. The images are usually mounted on the inside walls of a church or chapel, but may also be erected in such places as cemeteries, corridors of hospitals and religious houses, or on mountainsides, according to the Britannica.

Let's come to the bible, the Psalm 22, inspired by the "Songs of the Servant of Yahweh" (Is 52, 13-53, 12) and the "confessions of Jeremiah" (Jer 15, 15; 17, 15; 20, 7) ends, like them, with the proclamation that the passion of the righteous regenerates humanity. The development of thought takes us from the anguish of death to the exaltation of joy; It is a passage from the darkest night to the unexpected light, to Easter. A similar text seems deliberately predisposed to become the prayer of Christ (Mark 15, 34) and the Gospels also highlighted the details that seem to describe in advance the passion ofJesus, which renews the condition of humanity before God.

Is 52: 13-53, 12 is the fourth and final Canticle of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh, unlike the previous ones that narrated his vocation and the meaning of his mission, is limitęd to narrating the sufferings of the Servant and his final meaning. In vv 52,13-15, it is God who speaks, announcing in advance the triumph of the Servant despite his passion and death, which is narrated below, contrasting the contempt due to his humiliated condition (horrific, excessive sufferings). for other people's crimes, unjust judicial process, and ignominious death, typical of criminals and evildoers) With the saving meaning of that same suffering, since everything responded to a divine plan accepted by the same servant, his suffering and death take on a redemptive meaning as God exalts the Servant, declaring him innocent, and the rule of true fidelity and alliance. This song is perhaps the one that most influenced the first Christians when it came to interpreting the meaning of the passion and death of Jesus.

John 18:1-19, 42 in his account of the passion, has relied on the synoptics, but he has also used other sources, since he has exclusive details, such as the participation of the Romans in the arrest, the scene before Annas, the mention of the tunic, the presence of his mother next to the beloved disciple at the foot of the cross, and the spear. John strives to maintain his style and his own theological themes, such as "the hour," which throughout the gospel hints now of triumph, which will come on the cross. The "I am," a paraphrase of Yahweh, that Jesus continually attributes to himself, reaches great magnitude now of arrest, when he is almost able to stop what is coming. The change to the order that the synoptics give to Peter's denials achieves great drama when the second one arrives after the encounter with Annas, precisely when, when questioned, Jesus refers to the testimony of his witnesses, who personified him in Peter, they betray Him. John is almost silent about the judicial process before the Jewish authorities and concentrates on the process before the Roman authorities; Pilate's attitude is difficult to reconcile with the historical data we have about him, it seems that he is a puppet of the Jews, what John wants to emphasize is that the Roman is not before just any man, but before the truth made man, before which one cannot remain neutral. Throughout his life, Jesus did not want to accept the title of King, and now he must do it as a mockery. Jesus demonstrates his authority and lordship by carrying the cross himself, while in the Synoptics the Cyrenean appears. Much importance is given to the sign on the cross, which, being a mockery, is a proclamation of the universal title of Jesus that enthrones him on his throne, and which at the same time is a scaffold. John makes the death of Jesus coincide with the time of the Easter sacrifices in the temple. Jesus is the true lamb who takes away the sin of the world, who inaugurates the new Easter.

In Hebrews 4:14-16 and for Jesus followers, after having announced that we have been saved through the priestly mediation of Jesus Christ, the author goes on to exhort us to remain in the "confession of faith." He probably alludes to a symbol of faith recited in the baptismal liturgy and known very well by his readers. And, although we do not know exactly the form of this primitive creed, we know that it confessed that Jesus is the Lord and the same Son of God. Since Jesus is the Son of God, the only Son, and, on the other hand, one of us and in solidarity with all men, he is Mediator and our high priest. His priesthood is "great" and superior to that of the Old Testament priests. If they entered once a year into the "holy of holies," a place built by human hands, even though it was a sign of God's presence among his people, Jesus, crossing the sky, arrived at once. for all to the immediate presence of the Highest. Jesus is the true pontiff who builds the bridge between the two shores, between God and men. In him and through him we have been reconciled to God. Here, today, while we are next to the tomb of Christ, awaiting his resurrection, we are reviewing our life, our commitments to Him. We do not want to be Judas; we do not want to be cowardly apostles; We want to be faithful from now on.

We Are the World was a benefit single for victims of famine in Africa. It raised over $63 million, which was distributed to Ethiopia, Sudan, and other impoverished countries. On the morning of April 5, 1985 (Good Friday of that year), "We Are the World" received worldwide coverage. At 10:25 am, over 8000 radio stations simultaneously broadcast the song around the world. They played it to show their support for the relief of famine in Ethiopia. As the song was broadcast, hundreds of people sang along on the steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. The simultaneous radio broadcast of "We Are the World" was repeated the following Good Friday. Good Friday reminds us that the real rallying cry for every human is the cross, not a song or somе other man-made campaign. Unity begins there, because we all come to the cross, sinful and broken in need of forgiveness and healing.

That light of Christ has become ours, and it will be the one that will illuminate the hour of our affliction, perhaps of our agony, of our death, as the one that was given to us at baptism with the words that we should carry it lit as a sign of faith until we meet the Lord. We must share these feelings of serene sadness, of hope in the glory of the Lord after his tragic death that was for the good of the world, that was voluntary, because He had said it: "I lay down my life, and I take it." Waiting for that moment when he will take his life again, in that holy expectation of the resurrection of the Lord. A very typical thought after Christ dies on the cross and is taken to the holy sepulcher, and next to the tomb, we remain dismayed at everything that has happened, is the thought that the creed expresses with these words: "He descended into hell."

Billy Graham explained that when Jesus said, "If you are going to follow me, you have to take up a cross," it was the same as saying, "Come and bring your electric chair with you. Take up the gas chamber and follow me." He did not have a beautiful gold cross in mind, the cross on a church steeple or on the front of your Bible. Jesus had in mind a place of execution.

When the creed assures that Christ "descended into hell," it means that in these hours of the separation of his soul and his body, his soul will unite with the souls of all those who waited. Let us imagine what joy that of Adam, that of Eve, that of the patriarchs, that of the prophets, that of the saints who waited for the Lord. If it is a great joy for us to feel redeemed by Christ, that hour of the encounter of souls with Christ must have been much greater. This thought can occupy the minds of all Christians next to the tomb of the Lord and accompany Jesus Christ in spirit, in that meeting that should have also been cried out as in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." All that procession of souls redeemed by Christ will accompany him like a beautiful procession to the tomb where his body lies inert. And when the soul of Christ is reintroduced into that corpse, and the resurrection is going to take place, and Christ will complete his passage from death to life, he does not go alone; he goes with his procession of redeemed people who begin the great procession of the redeemed of the New Testament.

​Lutheran Pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said... Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market... Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.3 We are already in the hope of our own salvation. And one day, all men, from Adam to the last man in history, will form the procession of Christ's redemption as the Revelation saw in those crowds that could not be counted and that sang: "Glory and honor, power and praise to the Lamb who was slain and who died to redeem us."We will live this joy, brothers, ifwe are faithful to that redemption that Christ brought us.